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Challenge of Climate Change in Himalayan Asia

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International Conflict over Water Resources in Himalayan Asia

Part of the book series: Critical Studies of the Asia Pacific Series ((CSAP))

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Abstract

There is now general and widespread agreement among scientists that the Earth’s climate is changing and warming primarily due to human activities — particularly the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to the German Advisory Council on Global Change, “without resolute counteraction, a global increase in temperature of 2–7 degrees Celsius (°C) relative to pre-industrial levels can be expected by 2100”1, while greenhouse gases (GHGs) already released into the atmosphere will impact climate possibly for centuries to come. Despite this widespread agreement and increasingly robust evidence that global climate is changing, uncertainty remains over the extent of future temperature rise and other associated aspects of climate change, especially at regional scales.2 Nonetheless, the consequences of climate change are so significant that a panel of distinguished retired US generals and admirals has concluded that “prudence demands their effects on security need to be assessed”.3 Whatever the precise effects turn out to be, global climate change will profoundly shape the physical and human dynamics of Himalayan Asia’s freshwater crisis and transboundary river politics because climate is intertwined with every facet of the hydrological cycle. Geographer L. Allan James explains, “anthropogenic changes to the environment [such as climate change] often alter hydrologic processes that result in changes to water budgets, water quality, flood frequencies, soil erosion, sedimentation, and aquatic ecology.”4

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Notes

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Georgetown University, Qatar

    Robert G. Wirsing (Professor) & Daniel C. Stoll (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs)

  2. US Naval War College, Rhode Island, USA

    Christopher Jasparro (Associate Professor)

Authors
  1. Robert G. Wirsing
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  2. Daniel C. Stoll
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  3. Christopher Jasparro
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© 2013 Robert G. Wirsing, Daniel C. Stoll, and Christopher Jasparro

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Wirsing, R.G., Stoll, D.C., Jasparro, C. (2013). Challenge of Climate Change in Himalayan Asia. In: International Conflict over Water Resources in Himalayan Asia. Critical Studies of the Asia Pacific Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137292193_2

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